From Couch Potato to Marathon Finisher
Yep, couch potato to marathon finisher that was me. Well, I wouldn’t necessarily have called myself a complete couch potato prior to training for my marathon, but put it this way, I didn’t go out of my way to exercise. Let alone run, I hated running! I hated the feeling of not being able to breathe and just overall dreaded the act of running. Simply put, it was too freaking hard and I avoided it at all cost.
The Decision to Run
So, what the heck changed? You know honestly, I really don’t know…Around November of 2014 something sparked inside of me, I literally woke up one day and decided I would be a runner, end of story. And I did. I started slow, and literally I mean slow…I was slower than a herd of stampeding turtles, but I still ran. My plan to become a runner started off super simple. I ran every day. Not necessarily great distances or at a fast pace, but I ran. In the beginning, I couldn’t even run for five minutes straight, and thought, “Why the hell did I want to do this again?!” But I kept with it, I began slowly to add distance on, and when I actually completed my first mile without walking I was on cloud nine.
Routine
Easy enough I ran every morning. My goal initially was to do a 5K every single day, whether it was outside or on the treadmill. This “training plan”, which it was definitely not, it was just something I thought made sense lead me to complete my very first 5K, crossing the finish line at 27 minutes, which was super fast for me.
Registering for a Marathon
Me, being who I am, instead of gradually working my way up to the longer races, I decided to register for a half marathon in May of 2015. I took the time to train, and I will say that was the smartest thing I did. I followed a training plan pretty religiously and made sure most importantly to never miss a long run. Long story short I completed my first half marathon and I knew right then that I would run a full marathon before the year was over. I registered for the Twin Cities Medtronic Marathon shortly after.
Marathon Day
Marathon day was there before I knew it, but I felt confident. I followed a training plan all summer and gave myself almost an entire year to train for it. Condensed version of this story, I finished in 4hr 35 minutes and I was an emotional wreck after I crossed the finish line. It was one of the greatest moments of my entire life. I don’t think words can express how I felt after achieving something I worked so hard for.
I went from hating running, to being somewhat obsessed with running and training, to today. Today I enjoy running, but I am not actively training for anything. I try to run a 5K three times a week because I enjoy it, and that is crazy to think about. I actually enjoy running.